US OPEN

August 29, 1997

Tim Henman

Q. Tim, how disappointing is this? What happened out there today?

TIM HENMAN: Not a lot. I think you can look at it both sides. If you look at his side of the court, I think he played a great match, played very, very well, just didn't let me play the way I wanted to. But, you know, there again, my match was poor. I think I never really let myself get into it. He was up early breaks in all three sets.

TIM HENMAN: You know, when I'm good, I'm great; when I'm bad, I'm awful. You know, that's something I need to learn to try, when things aren't going well, where I need to try and be more resilient and find ways to dig myself out of that. But obviously, they are two contrasting styles of play. It's very easy to play someone like Muster when your game plan is pretty much made up for you just by the style he plays. Against Ferreira, if I'm attacking him like I try to do against Muster, he's returning a lot better. You know, I think he was hitting some very good passing shots. If I want to try and stay at the baseline, be a little bit more patient, he's going to take the initiative and hit some winners, come to the net and finish the points off at the net. I think it's all credit to him.

TIM HENMAN: Speak to my coach.

TIM HENMAN: After game one, I needed the loo.

TIM HENMAN: It's always going to be more intense at Wimbledon. But, you know, that's inevitable.

TIM HENMAN: No, I don't think so. You know, at that stage, we basically said I've just got to go for it. There's no point in just letting him run away with it. I had to just try and hang in there and give myself one more chance. I suppose, you know, 5-4 in the last set, serving for it to get to deuce, it's a half chance. Not really a great chance, is it? I think I had one breakpoint in the whole match.

TIM HENMAN: I've answered that question already.

TIM HENMAN: I said when I'm good, I'm great; when I'm bad, I'm awful. You know, that is something that, you know, is unfortunate. There's been the good sides, because I've had great tournaments this year. I played a great match whenever it was, Wednesday. I think I've had too many highs and lows. Both David and I are definitely aware of that. It's not something we're just going to let continue. You know, I still feel the way I've played since my loss in Cincinnati, I feel that I definitely moved my game in the right direction. It's things like this now that I have to cut out.

TIM HENMAN: It's not a question of, you know, getting one's self up again. At Wimbledon I'm playing quarterfinals of the Grand Slam; here I'm playing second round of a Grand Slam after beating a Top 5 player. So, you know, I'm very fresh, very confident with the way I'm playing. But I think it's the contrasting styles, if you're comparing the two matches that I struggled with the most.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah. I mean, if you look at his ranking, 55, whatever he is, that's definitely not where he belongs. He's been in the Top 10 for, you know, a long, long time. Obviously I think the way he's playing now, he hasn't had a good year. But I think if you look at the way he's played more recently, he's definitely started to turn that around. I think he made semifinals in Indianapolis; he lost a three-set match to Chang in Cincinnati. I think I wouldn't be surprised now if he has a good run. He plays the winner of Gimelstob and Gustafsson. Maybe he'll play Woodforde, Agassi, someone like that. It's a good opportunity for him. I think he's definitely ready to take that. Only time will tell.

TIM HENMAN: No. I can't have any complaints. You know, I had a rest day from matches yesterday, practiced. Today I've gone through the same routine. So, you know, there's nothing changed behind the scenes, if you like. It was a different scenario on the court.

TIM HENMAN: Ostrava is a different surface, obviously.

TIM HENMAN: Toronto, it was a similar type of match. I think he was the one dictating things. I think today I didn't serve as well as I would have liked. You know, a lot of the times when I was hitting good serves, he was hitting a lot of very aggressive returns. You know, that's putting me under pressure. On a given day when you're struggling anyway with your own game, that's obviously making life very difficult. You know, particularly on his own serve. You make the first serve. You put the return in play. Suddenly, he's dictating things with his forehand.

TIM HENMAN: No. He's worn that since the French. I don't think he's having a problem with that.

TIM HENMAN: Yeah. Nothing frustrates me more than to have given myself an opportunity in the draw, having had a very good win, then not being able to take full advantage of it. You know, having said that, it's the luck of the draw, isn't it? You know, sometimes you do open up a draw slightly more when you have a win like that. To play Ferreira is obviously not an easy match, but it's still a match I definitely believe I could have won. Yeah, it's very, very disappointing.

TIM HENMAN: Might be the week after this tournament's finished.

TIM HENMAN: It will probably be Basel. I still think, you know, I'm going to have a very busy schedule for the rest of the year. I probably haven't played as many tournaments as maybe I've been used to. I know at the end of the year I've got the opportunity to play a lot of the big indoor tournaments, which is obviously a continuation of the hard, which is a good surface for me. You know, those are definite opportunities to finish the year strongly.